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This article examines three school-to-work initiatives developed in the 1990s in Alberta, Canada as reflections of a new vocational discourse that challenges traditional academic/vocational divisions. Our purpose is to consider whether new initiatives have the potential to be more progressive than earlier approaches. Drawing on policy documents and interviews with representatives from government, industry, education, and organised labour, the article focuses on the extent to which the policy discourse appears to support the kind of progressivism envisioned by more critical or reflective proponents of new vocationalism. Findings suggest that policy debates in Alberta surrounding vocational high school education continue to be largely focused on employer expectations and workplace socialisation, while more progressive perspectives that focus on the integration of academic and vocational learning as well as a deeper exploration of the social relations at work generally remain unexplored.

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This article explores the pathways followed by former high school apprentices in Ontario and Alberta, Canada a few years after leaving school. The aim of most provincial high school apprenticeship programs is to provide an alternative pathway for youth who may not otherwise stay in high school to earn a diploma while gaining useful work skills which are in high demand. There is therefore a social mobility aim in programs. The main questions addressed in this paper are: To what extent does high school apprenticeship fulfill its goal of targeting youth who are 'at risk' of not completing high school? And under what conditions can such programs support upward social mobility for youth?

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The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges of partnership through an examination of a high school apprenticeship program in carpentry in Ontario, Canada. I focus on the relationships and points of tension within and between schools, a training delivery agent, and employers. My analysis suggests three areas of tension that have policy implications for how high school apprenticeship programs operate and are evaluated: first, the academic/vocational divide and lack of value given to non-college/university pathways; second, conflicts between employers and organized labour within the construction industry around the value of apprenticeship training and qualifications; and third, low trust methods of control in the workplace. The third area in particular tends to be neglected in policy discussions and warrants further research.

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The mid to late teen years are about as tumultuous as life can get. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that so many young people seem to fumble their way though high school, maybe drop out altogether, and then stumble on their pathway to finding a good job. The evidence now is that it's taking even longer for many young people to go from school to work. The problem was identified by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2000. The OECD speculated that the delay was partly due to the pathways from school to work being too narrow, too obscure, or too inflexible. And, it found that in countries where solid institutional frameworks exist to help young people along those pathways, the transition to work is much more successful. The way young people move from education to working life has become a focus for policy makers in many OECD countries - including Canada.

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Policy-makers and researchers are well aware of the gender gap in trades and the multi-faceted challenges involved in attracting and retaining women, particularly in male-dominated trades. This gap is also apparent in youth apprenticeship programs, which have been promoted as a way of attracting more high school students to trades. This paper contributes to an understanding of challenges for women by integrating analyses of national data sets with analyses of [the authors'] survey and interview data from former youth apprentices in Alberta and Ontario. These findings demonstrate that female youth as well as adult apprentices face specific obstacles, and suggest a number of policy measures that can mitigate the identified barriers and increase the attractiveness of apprenticeship training.

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How best to educate youth for the world of work has long been a subject of intense discussion and debate. In this book, the author traces the history of vocational education in Canada and surveys more recent initiatives, considering how successful they have been and where weaknesses have arisen. Questions examined include: What knowledge is valuable? Who has access to it? And what motives or intentions are fuelling the debate? The author argues that vocational education needs to provide theoretical as well as practical knowledge and, most importantly, help young people develop the skills they need to adapt successfully to the changing circumstances they will encounter throughout their working lives.

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The contents are as follows: Introduction; 'It's the economy, stupid!'; Education for industrial purposes; NEETS, PINES, and 'new vocationalism'; The relationship between everyday and theoretical knowledge; Rethinking vocational education and 'youth at risk'; Concluding thoughts. Show less

This paper explores the challenges of partnership through an examination of a high school apprenticeship program in carpentry in Ontario, Canada. Focusing on the relationships between schools, trainers, employers and government, challenges relate to the ability to coordinate the program across institutions, achieve agreement on goals, gain commitment from employers and promote a culture of learning in the workplace. These areas need to be addressed more systematically by policy-makers and partners if such programs are to foster the learning and development of young people.

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Recent literature dealing with the relationship between learning and work has changed focus from preparation for specific employment to a focus on lifelong learning. This paper looks at recent vocational education reforms in Alberta, Canada, in the light of the tensions and debates current in adult workplace learning literature. Three key educational initiatives are reviewed: Career and technology studies, registered apprenticeship program and tech prep. Interview data collected with representatives from government, education, labour and industry are analysed with a view to gaining a better understanding of the context of workplace learning in which these reforms are taking place.

The complete volume, with papers from sections 1-5 listed, is indexed at TD/TNC 71.26; the complete volume, with papers from sections 6-10 listed, is indexed at TD/TNC 71.27; selected individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 71.28 to TD/TNC 71.75. Show less

Apprenticeship programs are promoted to facilitate youth's transition from school-to-work, especially for those who might not otherwise attend postsecondary education. These programs may help youth achieve other markers of adulthood earlier. In this paper, we draw on qualitative interviews with Canadian young men in the skilled trades to explore whether they believe their educational choices have given them an advantage in their transition to adulthood. We also draw from the 2011 [General Social Survey] GSS, a nationally representative survey, and Cox modeling to examine three early adult transitions - home-leaving, first union, and first marriage - to determine if apprenticeship programs facilitate earlier transitions compared to other educational streams. Our respondents expressed that they transitioned to adulthood more quickly than their peers, due to early employment and avoiding student debt, however, many also had trouble finding stable employment and often took on debt related to their training. Using nationally representative data, we find tradesmen tend to leave home earlier than their peers, they form first unions at younger ages but marry slightly later than their more highly educated counterparts. Our results contribute to our understanding of how apprenticeship programs in Canada facilitate transitions to adulthood among a recent cohort of young men.

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This paper situates recent school-to-work transition policy in Ontario, Canada, within the historical context of secondary school reform in the past 50 years. This understanding informs our analysis of interviews with representatives from government, business, organised labour, education and partnership brokers. Data suggest tensions between the rhetoric of corporatism and the reality of a market model, the rhetoric of enhancing opportunities for all students and the reality of lower graduation rates associated with new curriculum. We argue that these tensions reflect historical and continuing struggles around education and training and the adoption of neo-liberal policy approaches that decrease rather than enhance opportunities for non-college-bound students.

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